Kate Middleton, mom's dresses all the buzz
Eleven days before the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, tongues are wagging over who might - and might not - be the designers of gowns to be worn by the bride and her mother, Carole Middleton.
On "The Early Show" Monday, CBS News Royal Contributor Victoria Arbiter told co-anchor Erica Hill, "A new name has entered the fold" as the possible designer of Kate's dress, "and that is Sophie Cranston. She has designed for Kate in the past. Her dresses are known for being figure-hugging, feminine, a really beautiful silhouette, which of course would suit Kate. We have the Huffington Post saying with absolutely certainty that it is Sophie Cranston. We've got the London Times saying with absolute certainty that it is Sarah Burton. But there is speculation that Kate is wearing two dresses on the day - one for the wedding itself and the first reception, and then one later on for the second reception. So it's possible that she is wearing both designers."
And Carole may have changed her mind at the last-minute about the designer she'll use, Arbiter reported.
"It sounds like she has" scrapped the one she intended to go with, Arbiter says. "I can't imagine the stress that Carole is under right now. And rumor has it that she has asked Lindka Cierach, who designed Sarah Ferguson's wedding dress, to do her mother-of-the-bride dress. They've had months of secret fittings. And a couple of weeks ago, Carole asked Lindka to send the dress down to her house. .. The dress wasn't finished. ...That's highly unconventional. And Carol scrapped the dress. So she has since been seen outside Alice Temperley's studio. It's possible that Alice is doing a last-minute rush on the mother-of-the-bride dress. But Lindka has finished the dress and sent it to Carol, so we'll see on the day which one she chooses."
Whatever choice she makes, the Middleton family will be making a hefty contribution to the big day's events, Arbiter says. "We always knew that they would be pouring money into the wedding," she pointed out. "It's around $160,000, which will pay for (wedding) suites at the Goring hotel, the wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, maid of honor dress, and also they honeymoon. They're also said to be contributing to ... the last reception of the day (an evening reception and disco Prince Charles is hosting at Buckingham Palace). ...Other than that, (Queen Elizabeth) and Prince Charles are fitting the bill."